


Symbiotic Relationship

by TenSpencerRiedPlease



Series: Synergetic Symbiote [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Venom (Movie 2018), Protective Eddy Brock, Protective Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Rhodey loves Tony but also does not support his alien fucking habits, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony-centric, poor dude lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 04:48:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16381715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenSpencerRiedPlease/pseuds/TenSpencerRiedPlease
Summary: You’d have to live under a rock not to know Eddy Brock. He’s pretty fond of fucking over people in high places in the most thorough way he can. “Lets cut to the chase, I don’t you, you don’t like me, and also I don’t care that people would never describe you as a terrorist that’s what you are,” is the first thing Eddy says to him and Tony laughs.“Well buddy, I do like you. And you’re right about me. But at the moment we all have bigger fish to fry.”Based offthisprompt.





	Symbiotic Relationship

**Author's Note:**

> Shit, I don't even know what this is but I read the prompt and thought 'hmm, I can do that' so hard that despite being tired as fuck when I read it I remembered it the next day like a ghost hanging out in my brain. Then I thought I only dreamt the prompt, then I found it, and now I wrote something based off it.
> 
> Frankly its a lot more comedic than I thought it'd be tbh.

Reporters that are assholes in the ‘I’ll find the truth whether you want me to or not’ kind of way are rare these days but Tony happens to know a couple. Christine he has personal experience with and Eddy Brock, well, you’d have to live under a rock not to know him. He’s pretty fond of fucking over people in high places in the most thorough way he can. So after Afghanistan he invites them both over because he has the break of a lifetime and he needs two respectable, fearless journalists to get the story out.

Two, in case Obi kills one of them.

“Lets cut to the chase, I don’t you, you don’t like me, and also I don’t care that people would never describe you as a terrorist that’s what you are,” is the first thing Eddy says to him and Tony laughs.

“Well buddy, I do like you. And you’re right about me. But at the moment we all have bigger fish to fry.”

*

Christine and Eddy didn’t care for the idea of working with each other but they dug deep as they could thanks to Tony’s tech skills. He’s pretty sure it’d been the first time either of them ever had access to information the way he does and they’d both been shocked by how swamped with it they were. But they both did what he wanted them to and with three people on his trail Obadiah had to pick the one who was the most dangerous and Tony already knew that was him. So long as the story was out he’s fine with that- people would know _exactly_ what his company had been doing and it would be a fresh start with Pepper if he died. Or Rhodey, Tony thinks they’re adult enough to choose maturely.

He doesn’t die though, and when Christine and Eddy release the information he’s shocked by how flattering their interpretation of him is. Granted both said he was dangerously naïve and a bunch of other harsh things, but the end conclusion was that he’d been something of a victim in all of this too. He doesn’t agree- what he got was poetic justice being attacked by his own weapons and he’ll never be able to atone for the damage he’s caused.

*

Usually it’s his life that’s a fucking mess all the time- yeah, Eddy gets fired a lot but he does his job a lot too. Which, incidentally, is what tends to get him fired. Tony isn’t even sure _how_ they ended up a couple given how things start, but Eddy adapts to his fast and lose lifestyle well, gets almost more pissed off than Rhodey after his birthday party, and then ends up in San Francisco to blow off some steam chasing a story. Then Ultron happened, which resulted in Eddy chasing down _that_ story, which results in a lot of unflattering articles about him but he’d never expect Eddy to sacrifice his journalistic practice just because they’re together. And he’s also the only one who ended up digging around long enough and hard enough to gather what he’s lovingly dubbed the ‘real’ story.

Everyone else wrote it off as Tony’s problem. Eddy wrote an article detailing the affects of aggravating someone’s PTSD and why they might make stupid decisions in a panic. Didn’t stop him from pointing out Tony’s stupidity, or Bruce’s for that matter, but he’d been the only one to print anything on Wanda at first. Then once everyone else caught wind of it it suddenly went from ‘Stark Almost Killed Us All’ to ‘Someone Intentionally Manipulated Stark And Banner Into Almost Killing Us All: Blame Wanda Maximoff’. Eddy hadn’t been pleased when Tony took the brunt of the responsibility anyways- his weapons were what landed Wanda where she was, it’s all still his problem.

But Eddy hadn’t much cared for that interpretation, pointing out that dead parents don’t lead people to participating in terrorist organizations. Tony had pointed out that _he’d_ done that and Eddy had pointed out that no one considers American imperialism terrorism no matter how much it fits. And that Tony didn’t know about the more obviously terrorist activities Obadiah had been participating in.

That had led him back to San Francisco, back on the story he’d been hunting down before while Tony ended up dealing with the understandably shaky politics around the Avengers. Unsurprisingly Eddy had been for them given that, like most of the population, he’s not enhanced. He pointed out that giving a super powered team of people who are, just like everyone else, subject to their own flaws as well as other fallibilities, basically unlimited power over the _world_ is nuts. His words. He’d been quick to criticize the Accords too, that’s just who Eddy is, but that that a set of laws around the Avengers’ actions, and other super powered people acting as a police force, isn’t a bad thing. He’d also been quick to point out that if they were acting as a military force they should also probably stop invading countries for what he labeled stupid reasons.

Steve hadn’t taken well to that but Tony had to admit, however little he wanted to, that chasing Bucky around the world is a piss poor reason to ignore international boarder laws. Or maybe he came to that conclusion after the bunker, he isn’t sure. But when he finally managed to haul ass back to America Eddy had somehow- okay not somehow, he broke into a lab he should have stayed the hell out of, and then got a parasite. One that really did not like being called a parasite.

*

“That thing has to go,” he tells Eddy for probably the millionth time. “I’m not dragging your ass out of lobster tanks every time Venom- what the _fuck_ kind of name is that and _also_ how does he know English- decides he’s hungry.”

Eddy looks away, face scrunching in discomfort, “better than the other option,” he says and Tony sighs, rubbing his temples.

“Which is?”

The fact that Eddy takes forever to answer probably should have told him the answer wasn’t going to be good, but that doesn’t prepare one for hearing, “people’s heads,” in far too casual a tone.

“What the _fuck_ , Eddy? Venom, get your black ass out of there and go back to that rock you came from!” he tells the symbiote. Which is weird because he’s currently looking at Eddy and _shit_ the first time he’d seen Venom he almost shit bricks.

“Venom says that’s racist,” Eddy says and Tony throws his hands into the air.

“Oh fuck off, you aren’t even human! Racism doesn’t apply to you. Ass out of Eddy,” he says.

Eddy makes a face, “you probably don’t want to know what he said to that.”

If he didn’t want to know than Eddy shouldn’t have told him he didn’t want to know because now he has a burning need to know. “What’d he say?” he says, knowing he’s got that _look_ on his face. Eddy calls it his journalist face but Rhodey calls it his white nonsense face. Either way it’s the face of curiosity that always lands him in hot water.

“He said he’d rather go in my ass than out,” he says, looking apologetic.

It takes a full fifteen seconds for Tony’s big genius brain to process why the hell Eddy’s face looked like that and then he lets out a noise he didn’t even know he was capable of. “Did you… Have you… That’s a fucking _alien_ , Eddy! What is this, a fucking Del Toro film? You don’t fuck aliens. Wait, he’s inside you- is this like… is this you fucking yourself technically? Is this infidelity? Does this count as cheating because like he’s _inside_ you and- wait, _we’ve_ slept together with that- have I fucked Venom? Is _that_ cheating? Was it a threesome? You know what, I don’t want to think about it right now, I’m calling Rhodey.”

Eddy tries to call him back but Tony needs to ask questions and he’s _seen_ Venom, that shit ain’t pretty.

*

Rhodey makes a face and honestly Tony feels that he’s entitled to that. “Dude, three years ago you were having panic attacks about aliens and now you’re in a polyamorous relationship with one? What kind of _fucked up_ bullshit are you on, man?” he asks.

Tony sighs. “In my defense, Venom is _in_ Eddy. He’s the tagalong I didn’t want but got stuck with,” he says.

“He says that’s not what you said-” Tony clamps his hand over Eddy’s mouth.

“Rhodey doesn’t need to know about that.”

“You fucked the alien?” Rhodey asks, voice going up several octaves.

“I mean, not like full out with the teeth and shit,” Tony mumbles in his defense. “But Venom’s dexterity is useful.”

Rhodey turns around and starts gagging which… Tony might be more offended if he wouldn’t have been in the same position not long ago. “Venom says that’s rude,” Eddy murmurs to him.

“Venom eats people’s heads, his opinion isn’t good,” Tony murmurs back.

Rhodey whips back around, “Venom eats people’s _what_?” he asks.

Eddy sighs, “just bad people, I vet them first. And its better than the one time he found a cat, eesh, that kid is probably traumatized for life,” he says, wincing. Yeah, Tony is sure that if he watched Venom’s ugly slime ass eat his cat he’d be disturbed too.

This earns Tony a ‘what the flying _fuck_ ’ look from Rhodey and he sighs. “Look, remember when Peter said having a Fitbit is like Tamagotchi except the dumb little creature you keep alive is yourself? I think it was a meme but it gave me an idea and I made a kind of Fitbit for Eddy and Venom, except the dumb little creature we’re keeping alive is Venom. Turns out the chemical he needs from the heads is found in chocolate so good news, Eddy no longer has to engage in what is technically a kind of grey area of cannibalism. Yay!” he says, waving his hands a little.

Eddy wrinkles his nose, “I hadn’t thought of that.”

Rhodey looks up at Tony. “You have done some dumb shit, you have done some shady shit, you’ve done some _crazy_ shit but this takes the cake, the ice cream, and the whole fucking _party_ too. You don’t fuck aliens, what if his shit is poisonous to your system? Did you even _think_ of that before you fucked the alien?” he asks.

Tony frowns, “he’s _inside_ Eddy, Rhodey. If he was poison I probably would have figured it out when I woke up next to a corpse. And also due to some uh… experimentation in the… early days of acquiring the symbiote Eddy uh… well, sexual activity was deemed safe,” he says bluntly.

He doesn’t think he’s seen Rhodey wrinkle his entire face in disgust before so this is new. “Man, I don’t even feel bad for you anymore. Here I was thinking to myself ‘isn’t it going to suck for Tony to have to deal with the Avengers’ and now I don’t care you alien fucker.’

“Wait, what?” he asks

“Yeah, they’ve been released into your care due to you having all the necessary equipment to hold them. And also because the military is pretty sure they won’t try and slip you. But if they do I guess you have an alien to- how does that even _work_ , man? If its in him then how-” he stops, shakes his head, and then wrinkles his nose again.

Eddy taps Rhodey’s shoulder and his hand does that thing where only part of him goes Venom, which Tony found creepy at first but now he’s used to it. Rhodey’s whole face looks like its been attacked by bees and also the sourest lemons in the world. “You had that _inside_ you? I need a new best friend; I need a _black_ best friend. This some white people shit,” he says, shaking his head.

“The other guy I knew that had a symbiote was of Pakistani decent,” Eddy says and Rhodey rolls his eyes.

“Fine, this is a white people and Pakistani people problem- still not black people because we have common sense.”

Tony is pretty sure the average white person _and_ the average Pakistani person would not be okay with this arrangement. It’s just that everyone involved in this situation is some kind of special snowflake and maybe probably not in a good way. Though Tony has to admit watching Eddy punch the symbiote out of the other guy was kind of funny until he got Venom punched out of him right back.

*

“You don’t have to take them back, they can go to jail,” Eddy says. He doesn’t say that’s where he thinks they belong and Tony is grateful for it because it’d be another argument and he’s done with those for now.

“They’ll just escape again, this is less hassle,” he says.

Eddy raises an eyebrow, “for who? Because I have to give up all my free space for a bunch of ungrateful assholes with super powers who think they’re above the law,” he says.

Tony sighs, another argument it is. “You _do_ remember I told Congress to fuck themselves, right?”

“You told Congress to eat it because they wanted to weaponize your suits to further their shady military missions. Steve did what, asked a couple questions- good questions I’ll give him that- and then decide that nah, you guys don’t need regulations. I mean unpopular opinion, but if you’re going to act like a military police force maybe have some limitations, a few laws, some consequences, that kind of thing,” he says, waving a hand around as he speaks.

“Can we not right now? Also-” he starts and Eddy cuts him off.

“Ultron, blah, blah, I know. Maybe you earned jail time, or maybe you were only half in control of your actions because your mind had been tampered with. Temporary insanity,” he says.

Convenient, Tony thinks, that Eddy lets _him_ off the hook for his actions but not Steve. “They’re going to be here any minute, just play nice and don’t let Venom eat anyone.”

Eddy shrugs, “I can’t help what he does, you know how he is and he likes you when you’re not calling him a parasite. He might get protective, I don’t know.”

*

It takes Eddy five minutes flat to get into an argument, then it takes him another ten minutes to engage everyone in an argument, and it takes almost five hours for anyone to ask why the hell some random reporter is hanging out with Tony. Eddy hadn’t taken that well and got into another argument about them not noticing a relationship Tony never really tried to hide. When Tony pointed out that most of the time they’ve been together Eddy has been off covering stories he got his ass eaten too. And not in a sexy way.

Clint rolls his eyes and Tony senses something stupid is about to come out but he lets it go. No sense in arguing with stupid. “Jesus Christ Steve, you should have left him in Siberia to die. Then we wouldn’t have to deal with his yappy guard dog,” he says, gesturing to Eddy.

If not for the fact that Tony _knows_ Eddy has just gotten a sniff of a story he’d be rather proud he didn’t immediately go Venom and eat Clint’s head. But his self control will probably only last as long as his patience in getting the story Clint has handed to him.

“ _What_ did you just say?” Eddy asks, dead calm and Tony takes a large step away. Natasha mimics his actions, obviously not looking to be in Eddy’s explode zone and knowing enough about their relationship to follow Tony’s lead. “I would prefer it if you didn’t you know, lose your shit,” Tony tells him.

“All I’m saying,” Clint starts and great, he’s going to get himself killed. “Is that if Steve just left him to die off in that bunker we’d still be in Wakanda. Better than this,” he says, waving a hand around.

Better than a place fully equipped to help every single one of them train their exact strengths and weaknesses in a way that better prepares then for battle _and_ doubles as a confortable home? Yeah, Tony knows Wakanda is nice, but he doubts the country is tailor made to them like this place is. Ungrateful jackass.

“Technically I _did_ leave him there,” Steve murmurs. He must sense the danger even if he doesn’t know that Eddy has acquired what are essentially superpowers.

Eddy turns to Tony. “He what?”

Tony shakes his head, “I’m fine, Eddy. Its fine.”

Eddy turns to Steve, “it is not fine. What the _hell_ happened?”

Its Clint’s stupid ass that decides to further this mess and Tony can’t say he’s surprised. “That Zemo thing was a trap, dumbass over here showed up to be useless and take credit, then Zemo showed him a video of his parents being killed by Barnes and he lost his shit for some reason-” Tony wouldn’t have thought _that_ would be Venom’s breaking point- turns out his species isn’t much cuddly with parents- but that’s what results in Venom appearing and letting out a scream loud enough it drowns out Peter’s appearance for a solid twelve seconds.

“What is it?” Peter screeches when Venom finally shuts up.

“You do _not_ eat Clint’s head!” Tony tells him.

Steve, now paler than Tony has ever seen him, looks over to Tony. “What’s this?” he asks, not turning away from Venom even if he’s looking at Tony.

Tony sighs. “Eddy found a new kind of alien. They bonded. You pissed him off.”

“Oh my god he’s so _ugly_ ,” Peter says, wrinkling his nose.

“Don’t be rude,” Tony mumbles at him.

In hindsight he should have known Venom was way too calm to have actually listened to Tony’s ‘no head eating’ request but sadly he’s a slow learner so when Venom tosses Clint head first into a wall he sighs. “I didn’t bite,” Venom says and Tony rolls his eyes, rubbing his temples.

“I have _got_ to learn to give you fine print,” he mumbles.

“Fine print?” Steve yells. “He could be dead!”

Tony shrugs, “shouldn’t have been a jackass. If he wakes up tell him to watch his neck, I might have Venom bite it.”

*

He so does not appreciate Eddy hounding his ass for the details of what happened in Siberia but he does at least get an answer to why Venom reacted to Tony’s parents. Turns out he knows a bunch of human things because of his fusing with Eddy’s brain and his life experiences- he knew what Tony’s parents meant to him thanks to Eddy.

Still doesn’t make Eddy pestering him for several weeks about Siberia any more pleasant and the man does not know how to give up. “You could save lots of trouble and just tell me things when I ask,” Eddy tells him, stealing his bagel. He takes a bite, wrinkles his nose and spits it back out, handing it back to Tony. God damn Venom, now a whole bite of his bagel is wasted.

“Sometimes a man likes privacy okay,” he says. “Please get Venom to stop stalking the team around at night, they’re freaked out.”

Eddy shrugs, “he says they deserve to live in fear.”

Tony rubs his temples, “did he get his dramatics from your brain, or was he born with that?” he asks.

**Author's Note:**

> [My writing Tumblr](https://tenspencerriedplease.tumblr.com/)


End file.
